I'll keep the BT-3100 in mind. I looked at the Amazon listing for it and it looks good.
BTW, the Xtar VC4 has informational displays. It's only downfall is that only two of the 4 slots support 1A charging.
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Battery charger
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I'll keep the BT-3100 in mind. I looked at the Amazon listing for it and it looks good.
BTW, the Xtar VC4 has informational displays. It's only downfall is that only two of the 4 slots support 1A charging.
Yeah, I looked at the VC4 but didn't like the limitations. The Xtar VP4 I really liked but the Opus won out because in addition to more bells and whistles that I'll probably never use it can do NiCd and NiMh batteries also. I have a couple of things that use rechargeable AA and AAA batteries, that way I only need the one charger.
ETA: Just remembered you said you have a Luc4. That one and the VP4 are basically the same thing, just from different manufacturers. Guess you can eliminate the VP4 from the list of potential new toys.
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Good to know about the LUC 4. I used it for a long time with excellent results. Now, it gets plugged up when I'm vaping on the RX200S and need 3 batteries charged at once at 1A.
The Pico has taken over a lot of my vaping. It fits in a pocket much better than the RX200S. The RX200S is good for watching TV or anywhere there's a place to set it down.
my rx200s and rx2/3 are my travel mods and desk mods both now that I have a couple belt holsters from @coffeebum for them. I haven't used a pico in ages as I like to vape 0.1 - 0.2 ohm in TC SS at 100 - 140 watts.Good to know about the LUC 4. I used it for a long time with excellent results. Now, it gets plugged up when I'm vaping on the RX200S and need 3 batteries charged at once at 1A.
The Pico has taken over a lot of my vaping. It fits in a pocket much better than the RX200S. The RX200S is good for watching TV or anywhere there's a place to set it down.
I really like the RX200S, but it's a home use mod for me. Having a cell phone in a holster is is a necessary thing since I don't care for it in a pocket, but for my 10W TC vaping style the smaller pocket sized mods work fine.
The new model Pico may be one I'd like with its dual battery design in a smaller package than the typical 3 battery mod. It's also not a really good choice for pocket carry for me.
.8 ohms with SS316L coils is my sweet spot for a 10W vape. I'm a 70pg vaper. Anything much higher than 10w to 15w would kill my throat.
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The Xtar's been in use every day for over a year.
It's my main charger and gets used every time I have a pair to charge.
I only turn the Efest on when my RX200 batts need a charge or if I've been out all day and have numerous pairs. I got the Efest specifically for charging the ménage à trois @ 1A.
The outer bays in the Xtar get probably 90% of the charging duty.
It's my main charger and gets used every time I have a pair to charge.
I only turn the Efest on when my RX200 batts need a charge or if I've been out all day and have numerous pairs. I got the Efest specifically for charging the ménage à trois @ 1A.
The outer bays in the Xtar get probably 90% of the charging duty.
Xtar Queen Ant MC6, it's priced right and it's an Xtar. Battery junction has them for around $25
I'm thinking about getting one of these chargers. I tried to go to the link but it never came up to a website. I do have a question...how often should I refresh my 18650's? I have 8 new (maybe a week old now), 8 LG HB6's (maybe 6-7 months old), 8 30Q's (probably about 3 months old or so) and some HG2's that's are the oldest. I don't really use them much anymore. More or less standing by in case I need some extra cells for anything.
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That link was just to a pdf manual for the charger and it works fine for me. I bought my charger from amazon but you can probably find it a little cheaper at places like gearbest.
How often would depend on how often your batteries get charged/cycled. I have a lot of batteries so they don't get cycled that often and the oldest are about a year old. I can't say I have really noticed any significant longer life yet on the ones I have refreshed so far (did all my singles and triples so far, working on all the doubles now). I have seen some people suggest refreshing them every 3 - 6 months so I will probably plan to do them every 6 months from this point forward.
I'm on the app on my phone so it may be that your on a computer. Not sure. I can find the PDF on the interweb.
Out of all the batteries I have I'm using the 8 new VTC5A's and charging 1 set of 4 once a day (running them in my HOG V3 para-series mech). My other batteries are going through either my self built unregulated boxes or regulated RX300 and RX200s but don't get used as much as the VTC5a's.
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Out of all the batteries I have I'm using the 8 new VTC5A's and charging 1 set of 4 once a day (running them in my HOG V3 para-series mech). My other batteries are going through either my self built unregulated boxes or regulated RX300 and RX200s but don't get used as much as the VTC5a's.
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I have one as well that I have been using for a few months. So far, it has been working great! No complaints at all.Gyrfalcon All-88
GYRFALCON All-88 8 Channel Digital Battery Charger
Love this charger!
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Currently i have a nitecore D4, a UM20, and a D2.. as well as a Soshine SC-H4.
The UM20, D2 and Soshine have the most incredible buttery smooth springs, and I can recommend any of them for small chargers. The UM20 does 2 Lion up to 18650 size, and can work perfectly off your phone usb PSU.
The D2 can do 2x26650 and lower at the same time, as well as AA/AAA/C, and works flawlessly, albeit it only charges at 500ma per channel, but it IS a good charger and i highly recommend it for those only needing a 2 bay.
The Soshine does 4 x 1amp, or 500ma, or 250ma. You can select the current per channel and the charging type per channel. It does switch from lion to nimh mode automatically, but does not switch from niMH to Lion automatically. It's easy enough to do, and it works perfectly. My only complaint is the lcd is a bit too small and it moves around too much unlike the nitecores which have amazing rubber feet that stop movement (the D2 and D4). the soshine is slippery like the efest stuff. That said, the soshine springs are the absolute best of the lot and make the efest charger springs look like 3rd world stuff in comparison, and it's worked perfectly for me for the last year. It was 59 AUD but now on special for under 50 shipped, from supersports 600.
I had some termination problems with some AA batteries in 250 ma mode, so charge them at 500.
All lion terminate perfectly at 4.2.
Now to the D4... i HATE it! I bought it to have a second 4 bay that can charge niMH as well as Lion, as i'm now trying to use rechargeable in all my household devices where possible.
The springs jump violently in "steps".. Bay 1's spring is so hard, i physically can't get it past it's first resistance point by using the battery to do it, i have to move it with my hand then insert the battery.
These are the worst springs I have ever experienced on any battery charger, and i once returned an efest Luc4 cause i hated the springs (to be honest i thought it was faulty but turns out that's how they are) - but this is WAY worse. So stiff, and batteries can easily fling around the room.
The seller that sold me the soshine was telling me how much he hated nitecore springs, and I couldn't understand it cause the D2 and UM20 are so good. Now I get it.
So I recommend D2, Soshine SC-H4, and am going to try the Gyrfalcon, as i would like an 8 bay charger.. Although I heard the gyrfalcon has problems maintaining a connection with some bigger batteries. Nitecore D4 26650's slip off on the outer 2 sockets, so you can only really charge one 26650 at a time on an inner socket, unlike the D2.
The UM20, D2 and Soshine have the most incredible buttery smooth springs, and I can recommend any of them for small chargers. The UM20 does 2 Lion up to 18650 size, and can work perfectly off your phone usb PSU.
The D2 can do 2x26650 and lower at the same time, as well as AA/AAA/C, and works flawlessly, albeit it only charges at 500ma per channel, but it IS a good charger and i highly recommend it for those only needing a 2 bay.
The Soshine does 4 x 1amp, or 500ma, or 250ma. You can select the current per channel and the charging type per channel. It does switch from lion to nimh mode automatically, but does not switch from niMH to Lion automatically. It's easy enough to do, and it works perfectly. My only complaint is the lcd is a bit too small and it moves around too much unlike the nitecores which have amazing rubber feet that stop movement (the D2 and D4). the soshine is slippery like the efest stuff. That said, the soshine springs are the absolute best of the lot and make the efest charger springs look like 3rd world stuff in comparison, and it's worked perfectly for me for the last year. It was 59 AUD but now on special for under 50 shipped, from supersports 600.
I had some termination problems with some AA batteries in 250 ma mode, so charge them at 500.
All lion terminate perfectly at 4.2.
Now to the D4... i HATE it! I bought it to have a second 4 bay that can charge niMH as well as Lion, as i'm now trying to use rechargeable in all my household devices where possible.
The springs jump violently in "steps".. Bay 1's spring is so hard, i physically can't get it past it's first resistance point by using the battery to do it, i have to move it with my hand then insert the battery.
These are the worst springs I have ever experienced on any battery charger, and i once returned an efest Luc4 cause i hated the springs (to be honest i thought it was faulty but turns out that's how they are) - but this is WAY worse. So stiff, and batteries can easily fling around the room.
The seller that sold me the soshine was telling me how much he hated nitecore springs, and I couldn't understand it cause the D2 and UM20 are so good. Now I get it.
So I recommend D2, Soshine SC-H4, and am going to try the Gyrfalcon, as i would like an 8 bay charger.. Although I heard the gyrfalcon has problems maintaining a connection with some bigger batteries. Nitecore D4 26650's slip off on the outer 2 sockets, so you can only really charge one 26650 at a time on an inner socket, unlike the D2.
I've never had issues with bigger batteries (26650) slipping, but some smaller cells will. They added some adapters to the All-44 that came out a little later. It is possible that those adapters will come with newer All-88.
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I've never read anything about refreshing 18650s doing anything for them. Seems that the only thing you'd be doing is "waisting" charge-discharge cycles. I could be wrong of course, and would like to see some actual facts on this.
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I had this thought too but since I have so many batteries in rotation (I would guess my batteries/spares get 1 use/cycle per week down to 40% before a recharge) I wasn't too worried about 'wasting' 3 cycles on a refresh.
I agree that it's not really much of a "waste". I just think that it's probably totally unnecessary.
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